Review of
Meet the Dullards,
by Sara Pennypacker and Daniel Salmieri ISBN 9780062991607
Five out of five stars
This book is
amusing and something that all children can relate to. For at some point in
their lives, children consider their parents dull, yet object to most actions
that make them seem cool and unique. The Dullards are a family of five where
the parents enforce the very dull. Their clothes are blackish-grey, and the
parents are so focused on the dull that they consider medium grey and beige to
be too stimulating colors for paint. Of course, the children try to find
exciting things in their lives and eventually they manage to succeed, doing wild
and crazy things that many children dream about doing.
Unlike the
premise, this is a fun book to read, for it captures the thoughts of nearly all
children. The children think that their parents hold them back from having fun,
when in fact it is generally a reasonable attempt to protect them. The fantasy
of running off and having fun like the Dullard children do is one that all
children can relate to.
Review of
The Boy Who Grew Flowers,
by Jen Wojtowicz ISBN 9781841486864
Five out of five stars
A good lesson for people of all ages
This book is
about the kids that are significantly different and attending elementary school.
Rink Bowagon is a boy that lives so far out in the country that there is no
road, only a footpath to his house. Furthermore, the nearest road is dirt, and
his family is the only one that lives on Lonesome Mountain. All members of the
family have unusual talents, Rink’s is that he sprouts flowers all over his
body during a full moon.
The other
children in school avoid Rink until a new girl arrives. Her name is Angelina and
she has one leg an inch shorter that the other. Angelina befriends Rink and
after some interaction, they discover that they share an unusual trait. From that
point on they are friends for life.
It is a great
story, for it demonstrates that even the people that come across as unusual are
worth befriending, for you never know how you may benefit from that friendship.
This is a good lesson for people of all ages.
Review of
100 Most Feared Creatures,
by Scholastic Inc. ISBN 9780545563420
Five out of five stars
This book containing
short descriptions of animals that pose a danger to humans is at times very
scary. Although it is admitted that dangerous contacts with such animals are rare,
phrases like, “Geographer cone venom is so powerful that just one snail is capable
of killing 700 people,” are truly scary.
The creatures
in this book are dangerous in many ways, from injecting poison to slicing and
dicing to simply trampling you. Children are especially vulnerable, for they
grow up seeing human-like animals in cartoons and movies. While most creatures
will go out of their way to avoid humans, there are some that will attack with
no provocation and all will attack if their young are threatened.
The tiger is
unique among cats, for there are known instances where a tiger has deliberately
hunted humans for food. Most frightening are the parasites, only a few of which
are mentioned in this book. I took a college course in parasitology and it is
unnerving to read the accounts and see the pictures of some of the infected
people.
This is a book
that children can read in order to get a fright, and unlike what appears in
movies, the “bad guys” in this book are real and can be encountered.
Review of
Debt of Honor,
by Tom Clancy ISBN 0399139540
Five out of five stars
This book has
been claimed to be prescient in that two major plot elements are a severe
financial and securities meltdown and a commercial airliner being used as a
political weapon of terror. The initial premise is that the leaders of Japan,
China and India enter into a conspiracy to dramatically alter the territorial
alignment of Asia. The leader of Japan is not the prime minister, but one of
the leading figures of the Keiretsu, the business consortium that essentially
ran Japan.
When there are
horrific accidents due to poorly constructed fuel tanks on Japanese-made
automobiles, the reaction in the United States is to enact punitive legislation
against Japan and Japanese products. They are so severe that there is the
danger that the Japanese economy will collapse. Somewhat reminiscent of the
situation between the U. S. and Japan in the years before the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor. There have been years of military reductions in the United
States, so Japan thinks that they can invade Saipan and annex it with impunity.
The Japanese leader also pays off an American programmer to execute a logic
bomb that will collapse the American and European financial systems.
Jack Ryan is
the National Security advisor to the American President, so he is entrusted with
planning the American response. It is also a time when the U. S. and Russia
have destroyed their last nuclear weapons and in contravention to treaty, Japan
has acquired nuclear weapons.
Like all Clancy
novels, it takes a great deal of time and ink to set up all of the premises
needed to trigger the story. Many of the other regular characters of the Clancy
stories are supporting characters, although some of them have risen in rank and
stature. It is a great story with one of the most surprising endings of all
action novels. It puts the reader in the position of begging for a sequel.
The only
downside is that all American technology and plans work to near perfection,
which is contrary to the real world. That is a fairly easy leap of faith, so the
result is an adventure story you get attached to.
Review of
Henry V: A Shakespeare Story,
by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross ISBN 9781626866928
Five out of five stars
This book is
both an introduction to one of Shakespeare’s best plays as well as a history
lesson of the political relationship between England and France during the time
he held the English throne. Since Henry V is considered one of the best
military leaders of medieval Europe, he took control of a large part of
continental France, Henry V was also a popular, patriotic play.
The level of
the text is that of the late elementary school student and is profusely and
simply illustrated. There are no quotes from the play. It could serve as the
lead-in to a section on the history of Europe and how there was a chance that Britain
and France would become a single country. Had Henry not died at an early age, that
is very possible. Given the destruction of the wars between Britain and France,
this would have had enormous consequences for European history.
I enjoyed this
book and consider it a superb introduction to a significant Shakespearean play.
Review of
100 Deadliest Things on the Planet,
by Anna Claybourne ISBN 9780545434379
Five out of five stars
While events such
as earthquakes and tornadoes are included in this list, the most interesting
items are those involving deadly animals and plants. Specifically, those that
pack poison. Phrases such as, “A single golden dart frog has enough paralyzing
poison in it to kill up to 20 adults,” really discourage you from walking out
in the wild or swimming in unknown waters.
One of the most
interesting aspects of these descriptions is that many of the plant and animal
poisons are used for medicinal purposes. For example, the poison in nightshade
is used to dilate the pupils of eyes. The modern heart medication known as
foxglove is from the plant of the same name.
This collection
of short visual and textual descriptions of deadly things is very interesting.
It provides quality entertainment for readers of all ages.
Review of
Elektra Lux,
DVD version
Five out of five stars
The main
plotline stars Carla Gugino as Elektra Luxx, a former porn star that is now
teaching a community education class to women where she is teaching them to
perform as a porn star in bed. It is an interesting premise, for the
operational life of a porn star is very limited and they generally have to find
another line of work when they can no longer perform for the camera. This
thread is further complicated by the fact that Elektra is pregnant, and she is
forced to make plans on how she will act as a parent.
There are
several supporting characters in the movie, one of my favorites is the young
man that makes online videos where he describes the work of Elektra. He is
serious and professional in front of the cameras until young women interfere,
from that point it is comical.
Other
characters are the private detective trying to recover some music scores that
feature Elektra, a woman that has cheated on her husband and wants Elektra to
seduce her husband so that she can catch them and even the score, that woman’s
husband, a famous author and a teen girl. Two other characters are female
roommates that have an odd relationship that goes from BFF to sexual.
Some of the
dialog is so deep that I had to go back and view the scenes again in order to
fully understand what was said. It was impressive by itself to say nothing for
a movie based on a life in porn that could have been tawdry. It is funny,
deeply serious and at times very moving. Especially when Elektra is talking
about her concerns when she has to tell her child about her life in adult
films.
